Big Idea Daily | Forever Strong
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A New, Science-Based Strategy for Aging Wellby Dr. Gabrielle Lyon |
“By highlighting muscle as your target for better health, you can create positive momentum focused on what you have to gain instead of what you need to lose.”DR. GABRIELLE LYON |
BIG IDEA
Mindset Reset #1
FROM THE BOOK“Before we go any further, I want to lay the groundwork for understanding what I consider the ‘drivers’ of behavior.
Step one is to deconstruct your thinking around health and wellness. Is your mental framework fixed or growth-oriented? The term ‘growth mindset,’ popularized by psychologist Carol Dweck, reminds us of our own mental flexibility and the reality that reaching our full potential takes time and effort. Our beliefs may be powerful, she explains, ‘but they are just something in your mind.’ Understanding your own mind will help you embrace the new challenges of adopting a muscle-centric lifestyle. A mental framework that welcomes rigor will help you thrive while leveling up both your exercise and nutrition plans. That’s because a growth-focused mental framework is the engine that drives progress.
People stuck in a fixed mindset often get caught up in essentialist notions of themselves (‘I’m not an athlete’; I don’t like health food’; ‘I’m gym phobic’; ‘I’ve never been able to stick with a workout plan’) and lose sight of their capacity for change. With a growth-mindset approach, on the other hand, we recognize that each of us has the potential to learn new skills and practice new ways of being. Effort is not the end, Dweck insists, but ‘your means to an end... that [is] learning and improving.’
Pairing a growth mindset with internal discipline is crucial. I call this integration a growth-focused mental framework. This approach will help you look forward to learning health-improvement skills and enjoy the process—not because it is easy but precisely because it is not. Through challenge comes mental and physical refinement, and that leads to a meaningful life. It’s time to recognize that having an ‘easy’ life is a delusion laced with unmet dreams and complacency. If you choose the ‘easy’ path, life will end up being hard; if you choose the hard path, life will wind up easy. I’m here to show you how.”
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Brian's Notes
At the end of each chapter, Gabrielle has a little “Mindset Reset.”
That one is from the Mindset Reset at the end of the introductory chapter.
Remember Rule #1 of the good, noble, Heroic life...
IT’S SUPPOSED TO BE CHALLENGING!!!
When we approach our lives with the right mindset—what Gabrielle calls a “growth-focused mental framework”—those very same challenges we used to complain about become the weights in our optimizing workouts making us stronger all day, every day.
As we’ve said countless times but it’s ALWAYS worth repeating...
Our INFINITE potential exists outside our comfort zones. How does it feel when we leave that comfort zone? BY DEFINITION (!), it feels UNCOMFORTABLE.
We need to have the Wisdom to remember that simple fact of reality along with the Discipline to do what needs to get done whether we feel like it or not.
THEN.... We may just find that we can do it all with a smile.
As Gabrielle puts it: “It’s time to recognize that having an ‘easy’ life is a delusion laced with unmet dreams and complacency. If you choose the ‘easy’ path, life will end up being hard; if you choose the hard path, life will wind up easy.”
P.S. That reminds me of Jim Rohn. In The Five Major Pieces to the Life Puzzle, he says: “We all have to endure one of two pains: the pain of discipline or the pain of regret. The difference is discipline weighs ounces while regret weighs tons.”
P.P.S. Right after that first Mindset Reset, Gabrielle says: “The ultimate life hack is hard work.” Amen. Let’s get to it.
Big Ideas
01: JOHN WOODEN
02: BUCK O’NEIL
03: HERB BROOKS
04: BEAR BRYANT
05: VINCE LOMBARDI
“By understanding muscle as the key to longevity and taking action to rebalance the effects of losing and gaining muscle, you can slow the process of aging.”DR. GABRIELLE LYON |
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